When you first start playing pickleball you will soon find your self at the net and be introduced to dinking. Loosely defined this is the ability to play a shot from the non-volley zone (NVM or kitchen) into the non-volley zone. Being able to dink back and forward can often be seen as an obsession! However, the dink is merely a way to prevent you from making an error. Today there is a lot more focus on how to be aggressive at the NVM with a variety of shots.

First, here are the key points for the dink or defensive shot.

This ball should be hit in front of you

The ball should be hit in your comfort zone, which is the 60 degrees in from of you. Your feet should move to accomplish this, however, this can often be achieved with stepping one leg wide…a cross step

The shot must be balanced.

You do not won’t to be off-balance on this shot. So is is better to let the ball drop a little more than rush the shot

The wrist, forearm, and upper arm stay locked during the shot with a light grip

The shot is made from the shoulder. A light grip is used. These combined attributes will not impart much kinetic energy into the ball to pop it up

There is little to no backswing

This shot is often referred to as pushing the ball rather than hitting the ball.

Becoming more aggressive

As referred to above the dink is often seen as a shot that is neutral and used as a defensive measure. But unless you are 100% confident you can win the dink war (and no-one is) you have to develop some attack shots at the NVM.

Make them move

All of the shots below are designed to move the opponent. Moving the opponent sets up the chance to make them off-balance which typically leads to a weaker shot and the highly desirable pop-up

Attack With Spin

Both topspin and slice can be used to attack a “dead” dink. This variation can be used to force the player to have to deal with a variety of different bounces

The cross court slice

This is a cross court shot on the backhand or forehand side where the player steps into the ball and executes the shot from the side. The player gets under the ball, and it crosses low over the net. The target is deep and angled at the opposing players feet.

The aggressive frontal attack dink

This requires an element of surprise, and the ball in the right place. The set up is like a normal dink but the player uses the view below the net to hit the ball to wards the head of the opposing player. The speed of the ball is such that the opposing player cannot react.

The step-back drive

In this case, a deep dink can be attacked by taking a quick step back and hitting a quick roll for hand off the bounce. The topspin must be sufficient to bring the ball into the court at the same time generating enough pace. This shot is often made at the body or through the middle to maximize the distance the ball can travel. Obviously in this case the wrist, forearm, and upper arm are generating rotational energy.

The attack lob

Similar to the frontal attack dink an element of surprise is needed, and again the ball that is received must be selected for this shot.. This is typically done by changing the face of the paddle prior to contact to a flatter angle to raise the ball high. The goal here is not to get it just over the opposing team. The goal is to put it very high over the opposing team so there is no risk of a high put away.